Cenium Bringing 'Power of One' to Hospitality
via Commanding Sales Force
Visit Cenium in Booth ONE-29 (129) at HITEC to meet the Cenium team and discover how
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is changing the face of software for hospitality
 Las Vegas—June 22,
2010—A
dynamic force has recently been assembled that is responsible for
changing the
face of software for the global hospitality industry. Together this
group
represents more than 50 years of information technology and hospitality
experience,
and today they are challenged with introducing Cenium's Enterprise
Resource
Planning (ERP) solution to the North American hospitality market. The
sales
team responsible for bringing the "Power of One" to hospitality
includes: Jeff Kiehn, Cenium
President; Melissa Sloan, Cenium Director
of Sales, Eastern Region; and Bill
Gustafson, Cenium Director of Sales, Western Region. The Cenium team
will
be present at the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition &
Conference
(HITEC) in Booth. One-29 (129) at the Orange County Convention Center
in
Orlando, June 22-24. Cenium is a global organization that specializes in providing Microsoft Dynamics™ (NAV) based solutions to the hospitality Industry -- a line of financial, customer-relationship and supply-chain management solutions that help businesses work more effectively through an ERP model. More than a decade ago, Cenium wrote the hospitality vertical standards for Microsoft NAV and successfully deployed it at hotels across Europe. Today, the company is bringing its successes to complex hotels and resorts in North America that are tired of waiting for industry groups to find an equivalent solution. "Cenium is building on something greater than just another technology solution," Kiehn said. "We bring an inherent belief that we can help make people’s lives easier. And it is on that belief that we have built a team of people that bring different backgrounds and experiences to the organization." Kiehn joined Cenium in 2008 to establish the company's North American operations. He played an active role in writing the European hospitality standards for Microsoft Dynamics NAV and immediately began trials for three- and four-star Choice Hotel’s chain in Scandinavia. The solution was so successful that Microsoft awarded its “Overall Customer Excellence Award” to Cenium in 2008 its Choice Hotels implementation. Since bringing Cenium to North America, Kiehn established offices in Toronto, Las Vegas, Atlanta and Naples, Fla., and was solely responsible for the deployment of Cenium at Blue Mountain Resort in Ontario, Canada, in December 2009, and the recent installation of Cenium at The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa, Asheville, N.C., which is presently completing its roll-out and training. Previously, Kiehn served as General Manager and VP of Sales for Evolution Robotics Retail, a Pasadena, Calif.-based company that develops intelligent products and solutions for the retail industry based on visual pattern recognition technology. He also served as VP of Sales for Active Intelligence in Toronto, and worked as the General Manager for Remanco in Canada. He holds a marketing degree from Ryerson University in Toronto. Melissa Sloan joined Cenium in March 2010, after serving for two years as Director of Business Development with Multi-Systems Inc. in Phoenix. She also served as a Senior Account Executive with Columbia, Md.-based MICROS Systems Inc., Associate Director of Sales and Director of Catering with Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and Director of Sales for the American Ski Co. She is a graduate of the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh. "For years the hospitality technology market has been comprised of the same players vying for similar space, with no real benefits and features to help the end user," Sloan said. "I was looking to partner with a company that offered a unique product with sustainability that would have an industry-altering impact on hotel technology. When I heard of Cenium and the ERP platform, I jumped at the chance to join the team. Simply stated, Cenium is streamlining the lives of every person that touches the system by providing a simplistic technology infrastructure. Any system can be customized, but unless it has a stable core architecture in place, hoteliers will continue to feel the pain and burden of disparate systems." She said other verticals do a great job and incorporating ERP into their enterprises. Introducing this proven concept to hospitality is a challenge that she is looking forward to conquering. "People tend to be afraid of the unknown," Sloan said. "As hoteliers take the time to consult with us and let us educate them about ERP, they are catching on and beginning to shareg our passion for building a strong, fully-integrated architecture with Cenium at the core." Bill Gustafson shares in Sloan's passion for introducing ERP and the "Power of One" concept to hospitality. "As an industry veteran, it didn't take long for me to quickly realize that the Cenium ERP solution is the solution that everyone has been talking about achieving but haven’t been able to pull off – namely, shared operational and guest data," Gustafson said. "The Cenium ERP solution achieves many new things that many people haven’t even thought of – automatically handled financials, cross business group workflows, financial value of CRM, etc. Most operators don’t understand this because they are just trying to consolidate guest information and haven’t gone to the next level of understanding the cost and revenue gains of CRM tied to their business. In reality, unless they are on an ERP financial-based platform, this can't be achieved. "Cenium provides hoteliers with deep and valuable insight into their business," he said. "Rather than spending millions of dollars on an out-of-the-box solution in an attempt to gather data from a host of disparate hotel systems, Cenium can do it all much easier and more affordably by harnessing the 'Power of One' solution. In the very near future, it will be very difficult for non-Cenium customers to compete against Cenium-based operations -- especially for resorts, hotels and casinos that have complex operations and high touch guest experiences." Prior to joining Cenium, Gustafson served as the Industry Market Development Manager for Microsoft Corp. He was responsible for driving Microsoft sales through hospitality and gaming partner solutions and the Microsoft platform. He also held other posts within the Microsoft company for 12 years. Gustafson also held positions with MGM Mirage as Automation Manager for MGM Mirage Inc., and with the Mandalay Resort Group as Software Development Manager. He also serves as a Programming Lecturer at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "The Cenium sales and development team is one that I am very proud to introduce to the hospitality market," Kiehn said. "Just as the Internet became the 'new normal' for the majority of people all over the world, we believe ERP and our 'Power of One' platform will become the 'new normal' for hoteliers around the globe. As we meet with people at HITEC and elsewhere, they will begin to see the value that Cenium provides, from replacing multiple systems with One ERP Solution and eliminating interface issues, to lowering vendor maintenance fees and server storage cost and implementing system upgrades across the property automatically and simultaneously from One source. "We encourage anyone looking to provide a more holistic view of the guest, improve the guest and employee experience, and achieve a quick return on investment to visit Cenium in Booth ONE-29 (129) at HITEC or schedule an appointment with our knowlegeable sales team to learn how the 'Power of One' can be implemented at your hotel today," he said. To learn more about how the "Power of One" can benefit your hotel or enterprise, pre-schedule an appointment today with Melissa Sloan by calling 239-465-0210 or email melissa.sloan@cenium. About Cenium Cenium is a global organization with offices in Norway and North America that specializes in providing Microsoft Dynamic™ based solutions for the hospitality Industry. The Cenium Hospitality Management System is an entirely new generation of products welcomed by the hotel industry and is already proven in hotel chains and independent hotels in many countries across the globe. For more information, visit www.cenium.com or email [email protected]. |